Ill 
1837-38 DR. BUCKLAND AT THE LECTURES 
an act of his good-nature, and meant as an 
encouragment to the young beginner. It is a 
formal, and therefore somewhat awful affair, our 
lecture. First, the members and students as- 
semble m the gallery and body of the theatre , 
then, as the clock strikes tour, the honorary 
visitors who have previously congregated with the 
council in the council-room are ushered down, 
the President, in his robes, being preceded by the 
mace, which is reverently deposited on the lec- 
ture-table by the beadle, when, lastly, walks in the 
Professor, and then, when the clock strikes five, 
your obedient and affectionate son makes his bow 
and exit, with a much lighter heart than when he 
entered. 
‘ I am truly thankful for the health and strength 
which has thus far supported me through a severe 
trial. My colleague, an old experienced lecturer, 
found it so ; and most have acknowledged the 
same. I trust to complete the course, which lasts 
till the end of June, without greatly disappointing 
the expectations of those who have (earlier than 
I would have myself wished it) placed me in this 
sphere. 
‘ Pearson Langshaw was, I believe, the only 
townsman who witnessed my ddbiU. . . . 
Dr. Buckland was a constant attendant at these 
lectures. ‘ While he is at R.’s lecture,’ Mrs. Owen 
writes, ‘ Mrs. Buckland comes in to talk with me. 
The excitement of these lectures used to have 
